


Lines of Communication

by astano



Category: Twisted (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 03:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/895052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astano/pseuds/astano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They meet again in the grocery store.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lines of Communication

They meet again in the grocery store.

Karen feels like a coward sometimes for occasionally choosing to pick up the bits and pieces she needs at a time when she knows there’ll be hardly anyone around. She doesn’t do it often, most of the time preferring to glare right back at anyone who dares to look at her, but sometimes it’s all too much.

Tess surprises her, when she’s just starting down the last aisle, seemingly coming from out of nowhere to start walking beside her. 

Karen throws a bag of chips into her cart, trying to feign a sense of disinterest, even though the truth is that she’s always kind of happy to see Tess. The chips land in the bottom of her cart with a crackle that seems loud in the relative quiet of the store. Karen slides her eyes quickly over to look at Tess, then asks, “What are you doing here?”

There’s no way to miss the immediate stiffening of Tess’s body at the words, and the smile she was sporting drops instantly. Karen immediately regrets opening her mouth—she hadn’t meant to sound so brusque, but when you’ve spent the last five years in a town full of people who, at best, whisper about you behind your back, and at worst, hurl insults at you to your face, it’s a hard habit to break.

“Kyle’s working late and Jo’s studying with Rico, so I thought I’d treat myself to something special for dinner. And a bottle of good wine to go with it.”

“You can get that here?” Karen smirks, pleased when Tess shakes her head slightly and smiles back.

“A bottle of acceptable wine, then,” Tess says. “I could—if you’re not busy, I could share it with you? I’m sure I can make the food stretch for the two of us...”

The invitation hangs in the air for long seconds as Karen debates whether she wants to accept—the last time they’d spent any time together had not ended well, but honestly, she’s kind of lonely, and the thought of wine and good food, passable conversation, even, it sounds pretty enticing. “Okay,” she says finally. “I’ll need to drop this off at home, but... around eight?”

“That sounds good.”

~

As she discards sweater number two on her bed and pulls number three out of her closet, Karen wonders why exactly she agreed to this stupid dinner in the first place. It’s not like she needs friends. She was doing perfectly fine on her own before Tess decided to play her knight in shining armour and come running to rescue her from the cruelty of the townsfolk.

Even though she knows that’s a lie, and she most definitely was not doing fine on her own, she’s almost convinced herself to call Tess and cancel—or just not turn up, that’s a perfectly viable option too, with no danger of Tess attempting to change her mind—when her phone vibrates with a text message.

It’s five after eight already, so she’s fairly sure it’s Tess wondering where she is.

Sure enough, the message reads: _Dinner’s in the oven. The wine’s not bad for a cheap bottle, but it would taste better with company. See you soon?_

Somehow, she finds herself smiling, and then she can’t really make herself decide not to go.

~

It still feels a little strange to be in Tess’s house. When the kids were younger, they’d be in and out of each other’s houses on an almost daily basis, but there were always other people around. Now, there’s just the two of them, and although it’s not the first time they’ve spent time together alone, there was always a purpose before.

Tess hasn’t stopped moving since Karen arrived fifteen minutes ago, and she’s exuding so much nervous energy that Karen finds herself wanting to get up from the kitchen table and force her into stillness. It’s making her feel nervous too, though she doesn’t know why.

Just as she’s about to get up, maybe direct Tess away from the stove, and to somewhere less likely to require medical attention should the nerves get the better of her, Tess moves over to the table, picking her wine up and taking a long swallow, before saying, “I thought you might have changed your mind. About coming tonight, I mean.”

Karen stares intently at her glass of wine, not really wanting to look at Tess, just incase she gives away that she was about thirty seconds away from doing so when Tess’s text came through. “You know me,” she says instead. “I’ve never been on time for anything.”

Tess smiles, nods her acceptance, even as Karen thinks that Tess _doesn’t_ know her. Not really. She knows eighteen-year-old Karen, in the vague way two people who shared the same classes, and who spent four years on the periphery of each other’s social circles might know each other. And she knows Danny’s-mom Karen, who was also Vik’s-wife Karen. But this version of herself? How can Tess know her when she’s not even sure she knows herself anymore.

But Tess says, “I’m glad you’re here,” and all Karen can think to say is, “Me too.”

~

It turns out Tess isn’t anywhere near as good at taking her drink as she is at smoking a joint. The wine went with dinner, and there’s a half-finished bottle of vodka open on the coffee table between them that Karen’s pretty sure was almost full an hour earlier.

She’s just lightly buzzed, but Tess can’t seem to stop giggling and her face is bright red from the alcohol. It’s almost endearing in a way that makes Karen want to reach out and brush her fingers over Tess’s cheek, and she decides she must be more drunk than she realised.

“You know,” Tess says, struggling to sit up from where she’s sprawled over the other end of the couch. Karen reaches out her hand without thinking, helping Tess to sit upright. Tess’s hand is warm in her own, and Karen doesn’t immediately let go. Tess seems as if she’s lost her train of thought, and she’s staring down at their joined hands as she says, “I can’t remember the last time Kyle and I held hands.”

Almost as if the mention of Kyle has some physical effect on them, Karen drops her grip. “Your husband’s an asshole,” she says, and almost regrets it, except for the way Tess is kind of nodding along with her.

“We’ve talked about getting a divorce,” she says. “But Jo...”

“Would get over it.”

Tess nods, sinking back down against the sofa, and when it looks like there’s more chance of her falling asleep than speaking again, Karen finishes her drink then says, “It’s late. I should go home.”

Despite looking like she might want to protest, Tess only nods again, and gets up from the couch with a little difficulty, following Karen to the front door.

“Thank you,” Karen says, when her jacket is on and she’s got one hand on the door, and though it comes out a little stiffly, Tess smiles at her, as warm and genuine as ever.

And perhaps it’s the booze, perhaps it’s that the entire evening has had the awkward vibe of a first date, or perhaps she’s just losing her mind, but when Tess reaches up to kiss her cheek, Karen turns her head.

It’s only after Tess’s lips are firmly pressed against her own that she realises exactly what she’s done, and by then, it’s too late.

It doesn’t last long. Tess lets out this little sigh against her mouth as she pulls back that makes Karen shiver. She wants more; wants to kiss Tess again and maybe never stop, but she can’t, not now, and not for so many reasons.

She doesn’t know what to say—she’s always been good with words, but not like this. It’s a surprise, then, when just as she’s about to shut the door behind her, leaving Tess still standing there, fingers hovering near her lips, like this was just as much of a shock to her as it was to Karen, she says, “Kyle’s an asshole. If I were him, I’d hold your hand and never let it go.”


End file.
